“We found two more conch-shell trumpets up here,” Daisy said, joining Pedro at the wall. “They have glyphs etched on them and are in pristine condition. You need to come up here and read what’s on them.”
Silence came from below.
A few seconds later, Angélica’s head popped up through the hole in the floor, followed quickly by her shoulders.
She had a new scratch on her cheek streaked with dried blood. Had Esteban sent her on another tumble? Or was that a battle scar from going to war against the jungle? KuTu had been part of her crew this morning, too. Were he and Esteban on their way here?
“You three shouldn’t be up here,” she said, clearing the hole. “Those columns on the first floor have cracks in them. Dad will be lecturing us for the next three weeks about how stupid it was to risk our lives by climbing up here without stabilizing the ceiling first with more supports.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Pedro said, offering her a hand up. “I don’t see you waiting for him before joining us up here, bossy woman.”
“That’s ‘boss lady’ to you and Parker.” She wrinkled her nose at Pedro and then turned to Daisy. “Where are they?”
“Right there.” She handed her flashlight over to Angélica, leading the way through the fragments again. “I asked Quint to take a bunch of pictures of them in situ so that we can work on documenting more later at camp.”
“Good.” Angélica glanced at Quint, her brow slightly furrowed. “Have you taken pictures of these fragments on the floor?”
He nodded. “And a few of the structural remains on this level.”
“Good. When we head back down, will you take pictures in the lower two levels?”
“Sure.”
She kneeled, aiming the flashlight beam into the alcove. “Thanks. That would save us time here so that we can move on to what KuTu found.”
“What did KuTu find?” Pedro asked, standing at the edge of the litter of shell pieces.
Angélica sucked air between her teeth at the sight of the conch-shell trumpets. “Would you look at that? How the hell did these twobeautiful babies not end up broken? It’s like someone placed them in there for safekeeping.”
Daisy giggled. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“Can you read the glyphs on them?” Quint asked while taking a few closeup photos of the deteriorating joints between wall blocks to ask Juan about later. The builders appeared to have used some sort of mud or cement as grout to hold the blocks together.
He thought about taking back a small chunk of this ancient grout for show-and-tell but resisted. Much of it had already deteriorated, eaten away by rain and wind. With Quint’s luck, he’d collect a small sample and end up bringing the rest of the building down with the four of them still standing on it.
“Maybe,” Angélica answered him. “But I’m not as good as Mom was. Some of these glyphs are completely unfamiliar. I need to check my notes.” She rubbed her hands together. “Daisy, did you bring any bags with you today?”
“Yes, along with some soft leather cloths for wrapping. I always carry a mini collection kit in case I stumble onto a find.”
“Great.” Angélica pushed to her feet, backstepping carefully through the shell shards. “You and Pedro finish with the recording process here and then bag those for taking back to the field camp today.”
“Will do, Dr. García,” Daisy said, unzipping her backpack.
“Nice job on finding these,” Angélica told her, reaching down to squeeze her shoulder. Then she looked at Pedro. “No jumping for joy up here. I really am worried about those cracks in the columns. Work quickly and then get down on the ground.”
Pedro saluted her. “Will do.”
Turning to Quint, she pointed at his camera. “Let’s get some pics of the two floors below and then you need to come with me.”
He nodded, taking a couple of shots of the landscape view from the wall, before joining her at the hole in the floor. “Pedro, can you give me a hand down since my boots won’t fit in the toe holds?” He didn’t want to hop down onto the floor and bring the structure down around them.
Pedro joined them at the hole, helping Angélica down while Quint secured his camera for the descent. “What did KuTu find?” he asked.
Angélica paused midway through the hole and frowned up at Pedro. “Just an obsidian sacrificial dagger with the Maya god of maize carved into the jade handle that KuTu is dead certain was used for reincarnation rituals.”
Chapter Thirteen
“O Juliet, Juliet, wherefore art thou Juliet?”
